Difficulties in maintaining small horse breed populations, possible ways of decreasing the growth rate of inbreeding

Abstract

Nowadays, the need for the survival and preservation of endangered breeds, including strains, genealogical lines, female families, has gained social acceptance. The primary objective within breeding conversation is to prevent genetic loss of the breed and to maintain genetic and phenotypic diversity. In simple terms: to avoid inbreeding. One of the conditions for the long-term maintenance of small breeds is to increase the population. The protection of mare families and genealogical lines is also an extremely important professional starting point. . The possibility of extending the persistence of the breed over time is helped by increasing the generation interval. In the case of endangered breeds, it is usually justified to deviate from the species-specific sex ratio when maintaining the breed, because a narrow sex ratio is beneficial for maintaining genetic diversity.